A small plane crashed in a field behind two houses around 1 p.m. The houses are reported to be on fire.

WVLA reports that the plane was engulfed in flames and set two houses on fire. A third was damaged.

Witnesses told the Baton Rouge station that the plane clipped a house, then hit a tree, which caused it to burst into flames.

Fuel was reportedly sprayed around the area. Officials asked residents to avoid the scene as emergency crews and investigators tended to the situation.

Baker Mayor Harold Rideau said the director of aviation at the Baton Rouge airport told him the pilot was killed and was the only passenger on the plane.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Cory said the multiengine aircraft had departed Baton Rouge shortly before crashing. She didn't know how many passengers were aboard the Beechcraft plane.